NEW YORK— This spring’s New York Asia Week auctions opened with three sales of Chinese art that produced a startling series of highs and lows. The highest of highs was Christie’s March 18 sale of Chinese works from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, where 198 of 199 lots found buyers for a total of $10,872,800, far above pre-sale expectations of $3.5–5.2 million. Bookending this auction were two sales of Chinese ceramics and works of art, at Sotheby’s on March 17 and in two parts at Christie’s, later in the day on March 18 and on the afternoon of March 19. The results were decidedly lukewarm for Sotheby’s and astonishingly good for Christie’s, thanks for a treasure trove of fresh material culled from distinguished private and institutional collections.

Despite these varied results, some general principles emerged: While always important, quality, rarity, and provenance, watchwords at all three sales, appeared more valuable than ever. And while top pieces attracted many bidders in the room, on the telephone, and even on the Internet — an encouraging sign for a market struggling to find its footing amid an economic crisis — the middle market continues to have a difficult time.

Sotheby’s
There were no real surprises at Sotheby’s pared-down, one-session sale of Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art on March 17. The finest pieces performed very well and the rest languished, as might be expected in this extremely skittish market. The 163-lot sale offered a little bit of everything: porcelain, lacquer ware, sculpture, jade, paintings, and furniture. The top two lots were ceramics from the Gordon Getty Collection. One, a rare pair of famille-rose jars (Qianlong mark and period) depicting the Eight Daoist Immortals crossing the sea, fetched $632,500 (est. $300–400,000), while the second, a famille-rose lantern shaped vase (Qianlong mark and period) depicting boys at play, brought in $602,500 (est. $300–500,000). Both sold to the same Asian collector.

Other top earners included a beautiful black and colored ink–on-silk painting by Hua Xuan, Eight Beauties (c. 1736), which sold to London dealers Littleton & Hennessey Asian Art for $373,000 (est. $200–300,000), and The Conquests of the Emperor Qianlong, a set of 16 engravings and 18 panels of calligraphy composed and written by the emperor and bearing the seal of the Imperial library, from 1769–74. The latter piece attracted many bidders before selling to a Chinese dealer for $164,500 (est. $39–40,000).

Chief among the unsold lots was a very large Qing dynasty automaton of “Figures and Landscape,” also consigned by Gordon Getty. Because of its large size and extreme rarity, the surreal 19th-century work would have needed a special buyer — unfortunately, it automaton sank without a single bid at $200,000 (est. $250–300,000).

Also failing to sell was a carved pale celadon marriage bowl from the Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (est. $400–600,000).

The auction earned a total of $4,018,939, barely within the pre-sale estimate of $3.9–5.6 million. Of the 163 lots offered, only 93 found buyers, for a sold rate of 59 percent by lot and 69 percent by value.

Caroline Schulten, a specialist in Chinese works of art at Sotheby’s New York, offered one positive take on the fairly gloomy results, saying, “Overall, we were encouraged by the number of new buyers competing for many of our top lots.”

Christie’s
Fine Chinese Art from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections
Christie’s had the lion’s share of great material this Asia Week, with a plethora of works coming from distinguished private collections and institutions. Highlights of the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, sold in a single session on March 18, included archaic jades, bronzes, and classical paintings; there was also furniture, but that was of a lesser quality than the other categories, and, as such, did not do very well. The sale was the first of several consigned by the Arthur M. Sackler Collections Trust from its part of the enormous holdings amassed over many decades by the late art collector, patron, and philanthropist.

The sale was a great success, with all but one of the 199 lots on offer selling, for a total of $10,872,800, more than double the pre-sale high estimate. Notably, the estimates were set deliberately low, according to Theow Tow, deputy chairman of Asia and America for Christie’s, in response to the current economic climate and in the hopes of luring in new buyers.

The highlight of the sale was a rare and exceptionally large white marble Buddhist votive stele from the Northern Qi dynasty (6th century), which soared over its extremely modest estimate of $300–400,000 to sell to an anonymous telephone bidder for $1,728,900. Another white marble figure, a much-admired sculpture of an imperious monk from the Tang/Song dynasty (10th–12th century), brought $218,500 against an estimate of $30–50,000. A set of four hanging scrolls, Birds and Ducks by Bada Shanren (1626–1705), sold for $1,202,500 (est. $300–500,000) to a Chinese collector. The four paintings come from a larger series that includes two works now in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. It is thought that the set originally contained eight scrolls, two of which have been lost.

Chief among the jades was a rare archaistic-hinged twin bi from the Qing dynasty in yellow and russet jade. The work was estimated at $10–15,000, but someone in the room opened the bidding at $100,000, and the work eventually sold to the Asian trade for $422,500, eliciting a hearty round of applause from the room.

A rare blackish jade ceremonial blade (c. 2000 B.C.) also drew a host of bidders, selling over the telephone for $146,500 (est. $15,000–20,000).

Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
Christie’s sale of Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art kicked off with a session on March 18 of jades from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the proceeds of which will benefit the museums’ acquisitions fund. Unlike the Sackler jades, which were archaic, these 75 pieces date from the 18th and 19th centuries. All but two sold, and the overall total of $2,357,562 topped the session’s low estimate of $1.4 million. The star lots were two jade brush pots from the Qianlong period, one of carved white jade and the other of more ornately carved spinach-green jade, which sold to Chinese buyers for $722,500 (est. $600–800,000) and $482,500 (est. $300–500,000), respectively.

A marathon session of 272 lots the next afternoon fared significantly better in terms of value, bringing in $15,965,900 and boosting the total for the two-part sale to $18,323,463 (est. $8.8–12.8 million). There were a number of stellar prices, especially for rare Ming and Qing porcelain from a North American collection formed between 1890 and 1920. It felt like the good old pre-recession days when these pieces came up, with bids all over the place and estimates doubled or tripled. One of the star lots of the group, and the sale's second-highest earner, was a doucai petal-lobed vase, Zun, from the Yongzheng period, which sold for $1,818,500 (est. $100–150,000) to a man in the room said to be an agent for mainland Chinese dealers. The same buyer also picked up a rare doucai “chicken” cup. Bearing a Yongzheng six-character mark and dating from the period, it sold for $602,500 (est. $60–80,000). A rare pair of famille-verte cups fetched $182,4500 (est. $8,000–12,000), while a telephone buyer paid $278,500 for ten 19th-century blue-and-white “month” cups estimated at $8,000–10,000.

Material from the estate of Walter Hochstadter, a New York dealer with a passion for China who sold to many great collectors and institutions, achieved the most impressive results of the sale. Hochstadter was known for having a great eye, and the consignments from his collection included a rare carved, barrel-shaped jar and cover in red lacquer (Xuande mark from the 15th century), which brought $662,500 (est. $150–250,000), the highest price for a piece of lacquer in the sale.

Another Hochstadter lot, a rare blue-and-white bowl from the Yongle period (1403–1425), went for $2,322,500 (est. $400–600,000), becoming the top earner of the sale. The bowl is one of only two known examples of its kind; the other is in the Shanghai Museum.